Calla

i'm halfway through ep15, and the 3rd sister makes no sense.

she dubbed her own character though lol.

oh yeah, after rewatching scenes from ep23 and ep24, i think you are correct. the duke is supposed to be neutral because he is the maternal uncle of both princes, but he has actually been colluding with prince han. the english subtitles really do make this scene a bit confusing.

but now, i am as lost as the original commenter lol. why would the duke want the crown prince dead if it does not matter which prince ascends the throne? in ep23, marquis yuan also mentions that the duke is usually on the sidelines between the fights of the two princes. or is that a mistranslation?

yeah, it is a bit confusing because a noble has so many names lol.

but in ep22, at the beginning of the episode - manyi is introduced as duke xianguo's youngest daughter. she was able to be raised in the palace by the consort dowager because she is a relative of the royal family.

and in ep24, around the 37:15 minute mark - after the crown prince reprimands manyi and dismisses her from the room, he calls her father "duke xianguo."

zheng baichun and duke xianguo are the same person. zheng baichun is his name, and duke xianguo is his title.

in ep22, when we are introduced to zheng manyi, she is labeled as the youngest daughter of duke xianguo.

as for the duke trying to make jinqi marry his daughter, the duke just wanted to be closer to the throne. he originally thought that since jinqi has the crown prince's favor, tying his family to jinqi's would benefit him. however, this was before his daughter offended the crown prince with her actions. things have changed since then.

my takeaway from that scene is that the duke is the maternal uncle to both princes. it doesn't matter who gets the throne - he will be related to the future emperor regardless. he is aware that prince han is plotting against the crown prince, but he doesn't aid prince han or defend the crown prince. he has been neutral.

however, because his daughter got caught by the crown prince for abusing her family's power, the duke is now in trouble too. the crown prince told them to report to court(?) the next day for punishment. this makes the duke bitter, which is why he just stands by and watches when the crown prince is "assassinated."

if the crown prince lives, the duke's family will have to be reprimanded for their corruption; if the crown prince dies, the problem goes down the drain. it is in that moment, as the supposed crown prince falls on stage, that the duke decides he is okay with the crown prince dying. because although he has no part in the assassination, now he has something to gain from it.

i don't think the deposed crown prince (aka uncle liu) is completely useless, otherwise, prince han wouldn't see him as a threat.

but you are correct, there are two siblings fighting for the throne right now: the current crown prince (the guy marquis yuan and jinqi support) and prince han (the guy the zhao family supports).

prince han seems to be as cruel and merciless as his father, the dying emperor. him going after the deposed crown prince (who is powerless atm) reminds me a lot of the emperor going after the shen family. i understand why jinqi doesn't want him to become emperor.

jinqi helped the deposed crown prince / uncle liu escape. how does the current crown prince (who will soon become emperor) feel about the deposed crown prince? will this choice come back to bite jinqi in the future?

which i'm thankful for! we should always strive to be better than our predecessors.

btw, have you read the novel for against the current? if so, i do have a question:

such a painful truth.

in ep1, when those officials shook their heads after discovering the shen women had taken their own lives, one of them said something along the lines of, "i wanted to take the younger ones and train them myself" - that is forever burned into my brain. it made me want to throw up.

so heartbreaking that death is kinder than a life at the mercy of some men.

oh, this is so beautifully written. i love your thoughts on this episode!

you are right though. there's a lot going on. blink and you will miss something. i had to rewatch several scenes in order to understand the context better myself lol.

you are welcome. hope you continue to enjoy the drama. see you around!

i don't think scholar han knows the real identity of uncle liu... at least not yet. scholar han seems to be a man of humble origins. i doubt he is old enough or of a high enough rank to have ever met any royals. but i'm sure he is smart enough to realize that there is more to the story than what jinqi and uncle liu are letting on.

now, master lu (lanxiang and scholar han's landlord), on the other hand? i feel like he might know. he seems to resent the lin family, which makes me feel like he was close with the shen family. he placed third in the imperial exam a long time ago, so he might have even met the deposed crown prince before he fell from power.

i don't know how the current crown prince feels about the deposed crown prince or if he sees him as a threat the same way prince han does, but i have a feeling jinqi helping uncle liu escape will become a problem someday...

it is a bit confusing for me too, but from my understanding, the one who cut off the tip of his own finger was the deposed crown prince. he was banished after he lost his title. he now goes by the name "uncle liu", and he has been laying low all these years in order to survive.

now that the current emperor is dying, prince han is trying to get rid of any potential imperial contenders for the throne, aka the current crown prince (prince han's brother) and the deposed crown prince (uncle liu). that was why those officials (prince han's faction) were looking for a man with an abnormally long index finger.

jinqi recognized uncle liu as the deposed crown prince and helped him escape. it was not only to gain info about lanxiang's kidnapper, but also because jinqi felt the deposed crown prince had committed no crimes and did not want any more innocent lives to die (a reference to the shen family's tragic fate under the wrath of the current emperor so many years ago).

tbf, nobody deserves her. she is wild grass, she will thrive no matter where she is or who she is with.

i think she will live a very happy and peaceful life if she marries the sml, but sucks for him - our ml wants her more and he will never let that happen. i'm not mad about that lol.

so so good. thank god for great writing!

omg, what an amazing episode this was!

that scene with lanxiang and ji'er switching outfits made me cry. there's just something so beautiful about a women-supporting-women story that a straight-up romance can never compare to. knowing that ji'er will suffer by "having to sleep with more customers" as a punishment for helping lanxiang escape that same fate... and hearing lanxiang promise to come back for her... breaks my heart.

despite ji'er's pitiful circumstances right now, her character's development has been done so well. however she was in the past, i am no longer annoyed with her because she went from only wanting to protect herself to wanting to protect others... even if it costs her.

all of these women are just trying to survive, and for my mental well-being, i hope they all do.

ep23. lanxiang and an unlikely hero: